Community Sports

Lancaster native Sindarius Thornwell, a former LHS Bruins hoops star who now plays for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, earned the SEC Player of the Week award after leading the Gamecocks to wins over nationally ranked Michigan and Syracuse last week.
The 6-foot-5 USC senior guard averaged 18.5 points and eight rebounds in the two wins while shooting 61.6 percent from the floor. He also had four assists and two steals in the wins over No. 25 Michigan and No. 18 Syracuse last week.

The Red Roses are blooming good and they have the crowns to show it.
The Red Roses, a Lancaster area senior mixed doubles team, captured the 65-over mixed doubles Southern Region championship Sunday in Little Rock, Ark.
The Red Roses qualified for the region tournament as the South Carolina champion after winning the title for the second time in three years at the Florence Tennis Center in Florence where the state tourney was held Sept. 9-12.

The Red Roses are blooming good and they have the crowns to show it.
The Red Roses, a Lancaster area senior mixed doubles team, captured the 65-over mixed doubles Southern Region championship Sunday in Little Rock, Ark.
The Red Roses qualified for the region tournament as the South Carolina champion after winning the title for the second time in three years at the Florence Tennis Center in Florence where the state tourney was held Sept. 9-12.

The Lancaster County Parks and Recreation Commission youth all-star football teams – 9-10 small fry and 11-12 mite stars – will open the Central District playoffs Nov. 19 at Nation Ford High School in Fort Mill.
The 9-10 small fry all-stars will play Lugoff-Elgin at 10 a.m., with the 11-12 mite all-stars to play the Rock Hill YMCA at 1 p.m.
The winners will advance to second-round play in Chester on Nov. 29.
The small fry stars will play at 6 p.m., with the mite stars game at 7.

Area Clemson University football fans are elated the Tigers are among college football’s elite, but they know there’s a lot of football to be played before the final elite Final Four is released next month for the national title playoff.
Clemson, 8-0, is ranked second in the first College Football Playoff Poll. The 12-person committee released its first rankings of the 2016 season Tuesday evening.
Defending national champion Alabama, which defeated Clemson, 45-40 for the title, is No. 1 and followed by the Tigers.

South Carolina freshman basketball player Rakym Felder, who played one season of basketball at Indian Land High School, was arrested Sunday and charged with several counts, including assault, resisting arrest and public disorderly conduct.
Felder, a shooting guard from New York, was jailed before being released Monday.
A team spokeswoman said USC men’s basketball coach Frank Martin was aware of Felder’s arrest and was gathering more information. In accordance to the USC athletic department policy, Felder is suspended indefinitely.

Michael Dean Perry said his faith played a role in his success in the National Football League.
Perry, who played 10 seasons in the NFL and earned six Pro Bowls, was the featured speaker at the second annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet at Second Baptist Church on Tuesday night.
“There’s a lot of different things coming at you in the NFL and I took my faith serious,” said Perry, an Aiken native who starred at Clemson along with his brother William “The Refrigerator” Perry.

The seventh annual Run with the Bruins 5K road race and quarter-mile fun run is Saturday at Lancaster Memorial Stadium.
The kids’ fun run, open to youngsters age 10-under, begins at 8:15 a.m. The 5K run and walk, which also features a 5K team relay, begins at 9:15 a.m.
The 5K team relay features a three-runner relay, with each runner to participate for a mile. All 5K participants will receive a T-shirt and bib race number. All ages and running abilities are welcome to compete.

The deciding dizzy bat race was the difference in the 12th annual Neil McMackin Memorial golf tournament at the Lancaster Golf Club on Sept. 10.
The gross score title ended in a tie, and as the tournament rules came into play was decided by the dizzy bat race.
The dizzy bat race includes a member of the teams, which were tied at the end of regulation.
The members each circle a bat and then race a certain distance and the first to cross the finish line is the winner.

The Buford Middle School Jackets rallied from an early 8-0 deficit to post their first win of the season with a 20-8 comeback victory over Chesterfield-Ruby Middle School on Wednesday.
Buford, down 8-0, rallied to slice the lead to 8-6 on Tyler Vespe’s 50-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion try failed.
Buford came back to take the lead for good as quarterback Evan Teague tallied on a three-yard run. Teague’s scoring run was set up when he hit Dalton “Bubba” Catoe on a 25-yard pass.